Three moves is all it takes to challenge* the outcome of the game... In Marcus' world, battles are fought every day - on the street, at home and in school. Angered by his sister's death, his father's absence, and pushed to the brink by a bullying classmate, Marcus fights back with his fists. One punch from expulsion, Marcus encounters CM, an unlikely chess master who challenges him to fight his battles on the chess board. But Marcus has some hard lessons to learn before he can accept CM's help to regain control of his life.

3 comments:

Well, beware: you'd want to know about the chess content (a children's bookseller writes). I've seen this, for instance, by the very reputable Michael Morpurgo: chess plays a large part in it, but it's mangled, written-by-somneboy-who-doesn't-play chess.

Does this matter? I think it does, because at some point it's going to be read by kids who do play, and they're only going to be confused by it.

Or maybe not, and it doesn't really matter. Actually at some point I might write about this. I'd like to know Morpurgo's opinion.